Songs Lyrics and YT- Youtube Music Videos: Fiona Apple Songs

Fiona Apple Songs - Extraordinary Machine Lyrics

Fiona Apple - Extraordinary Machine

Fiona Apple - Extraordinary Machine Lyrics and Youtube Music Videos

Album: Extraordinary Machine
Released: 2005

Extraordinary Machine Lyrics

Extraordinary Machine

The title track to Fiona Apple's third album, this was one of two songs that survived the sessions recorded with producer Jon Brion (the last track on the album, "Waltz (Better Than Fine)," is the other). Apple's second album was issued in 1999, and Extraordinary Machine was slated for release in 2003. Most of the songs didn't come together to Fiona's satisfaction, and the album was delayed until 2005 when Mike Elizondo and Brian Kehew took over as producers, completing the other nine tracks plus "Parting Gift," which was a new song Fiona wrote.

Before the official release of the album, however, a version was leaked on the internet and shared over the peer-to-peer networks that were flourishing at the time. According to Kehew , this leaked copy was doctored by whoever put it out - it wasn't the full version she recorded with Jon Brion.

On this track, Fiona sings about how she enjoys being out of her comfort zone, but has to deal with a man who likes to stay the same. She points out that while she is often perceived as a fragile little flower, she is actually quite resilient - an "extraordinary machine."

Fiona took the photo that appears on the album cover - it's a flower that was growing at her house, and on the inside cover is that same flower after it had bloomed. Her motivation for taking the cover shot herself: to avoid a photo shoot.

Fiona Apple Songs - Better Version of Me Lyrics

Fiona Apple - Better Version of Me

Fiona Apple - Better Version of Me Lyrics and Youtube Music Videos

Album: Extraordinary Machine
Released: 2005

Better Version of Me Lyrics

Better Version of Me

This song finds Fiona looking back on the insecure version of herself, ultimately promising that it will lead to a better version. The lyric contains a few words that don't show up in typical songs, but Fiona isn't a typical songwriter. "Folderol" (in the line, "after all the folderol") means events that may seem important at the time, but are pretty much meaningless in the big picture.

Apple's co-producer on the track, Brian Kehew , told us: "She would find in her reading interesting words or phrases and then find a way to incorporate that into some meanings she already had for a song."

Another example is the word "Rubicon," which appears in the line "I was on my way beyond the Rubicon." The Rubicon is the point of no return - it is the name of a river in Italy famously crossed by Julius Caesar, signifying his commitment to war.

The Extraordinary Machine album - Fiona's third - was extraordinarily difficult to record. The first sessions were with producer Jon Brion, who produced her previous album. Fiona wasn't happy with the recordings, and neither was her record company, who brought in a new producer - Mike Elizondo - to take over. Results were mixed, and the sessions came to an impasse when the record company tightened the strings on the budget, telling Fiona that they would have to approve the final recording of a song before they would pay for her to record another one - something she refused to do.

The album, scheduled for release in 2003, seemed dead in 2005 (not helping matters, a version was released on the internet and widely distributed). This is when Brian Kehew stepped in, offering to record the unfinished songs with Fiona in his home studio, essentially starting from scratch (he would get paid on the backend with a producer credit). Fiona took the offer, and over the next month, they recorded the album using a simplified approach.

Kehew, unfortunately, was not involved in the mixing process. He explained: "I'd written a guitar solo in two parts that answer each other for a song called 'Better Version of Me.' I recorded it as a quick demo, because the last thing to do on the record was the solo for the song. We spent a last day with Fiona and Mike and I in the studio, and I said, 'Here's the two melodies, but what I want to do is break them out into, like, 60 different instruments, and each instrument will play one or two notes of the solo, and then we'll jump to another one. So it'll be this real hodgepodge of two melodies played by a flute, then strings, then triangle, then synth, then bass, then guitar, then oboe, and that will complete melody number one. And then we'll do different instruments on melody number two. Might be one note, might be three or four notes in a row. And then we jump to another instrument.' It was just a creative idea to make what sounded like two guitars, maybe like Brian May, playing two melodies against each other. We had this whole elaborate full day of overdubbing parts to make these solos come out, and somehow in the mixing, since I wasn't there, it ended up sounding like two guitars mostly playing against each other, and all these beautiful layers of weird instruments on top of each other, I can't really hear them. They're almost inaudible. So sadly, no one was minding the store when it was mixed and they missed out on some things on the record."

Fiona Apple Songs - Tymps (the Sick in the Head Song) Lyrics

Fiona Apple - Tymps (the Sick in the Head Song)

Fiona Apple - Tymps (the Sick in the Head Song) Lyrics and Youtube Music Videos

Album: Extraordinary Machine
Released: 2005

Tymps (the Sick in the Head Song) Lyrics

Tymps (the Sick in the Head Song)

"Tymps" in this case is short for "timpani," which are kettle drums. Fiona wrote the song on a portable Yamaha electric keyboard she had at home, which is something she rarely does, since most of her writing is on a piano. The song had a timpani sound, which is how it got the title.

Brian Kehew , who co-produced the Extraordinary Machine album, told us: "It was a temporary title for it called 'Tymps,' because that's how we referenced the song. Then it eventually got subtitled 'Sick in the Head,' because that was one of the funny lyrics in it. But she wrote it that way and it inspired her to create something different than she might have done on the piano."

In this song, Fiona looks back on some poor decisions she made regarding a love interest, and wonders if it was love or insanity that was responsible for her actions. Like she did on another track from the album - "Red Red Red" - she sings in colors on this one: "The red isn't the red we painted, it's just rust."

The Extraordinary Machine album was leaked on the internet months before its official release. "Tymps" did not appear on the leaked version.

Fiona Apple Songs - Sleep To Dream Lyrics

Fiona Apple Songs - Slow Like Honey Lyrics

Fiona Apple - Slow Like Honey

Fiona Apple - Slow Like Honey Lyrics and Youtube Music Videos

Album: Tidal
Released: 1996

Slow Like Honey Lyrics

Slow Like Honey

In the song, Fiona speaks of her "big secret." She has explained it as being in reference to the way other students viewed her during high school. It was Fiona's response to the question of "What's the big secret?"

Apple: "When I was in high school a lot of guys didn't... a lot of guys always... this is what I heard the most -- okay... 'What the hell are you thinking?' 'What are you thinking about?' 'God, you're always staring off into space.' And, like, no one would come near me because of that and I think that people think that if you're silent then you're like, snobby or something, you know? Or you're depressed. You know? I was just contemplative. What can I say?"

Songs Lyrics and YT- Youtube Music Videos

Labels

Songs Lyrics

Recent Lyrics